The Forest of Arden | Shakespeare's Globe Blog the forest of arden By Robin Craig, a Researcher at the Globe As You Like It, performed in Georgian by Marjanishvili Theatre Company © John Haynes What is the importance of the forest of Arden in As You Like It? It is not Shakespeare’s only play that features a move from the court to the woods – A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Timon of Athens do the same – but in As You Like It the forest takes on a special role as a place of inversion, cross-dressing and unsettled gender roles. The escape from the court changes the characters and creates a space of sexual freedom and chaos, where women take control and men learn lessons in romance. In the comedies, the forest becomes a distorted version of the court where social rules are broken, creating a sense of jovial confusion before a return to civilisation in the final act.

‘Gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.’ Act 1.1 The forest can be defined as a 'pastoral space’ that represents the opposite of urban life in the play, representing the division between the city and the country that was beginning to emerge in Shakespeare’s time. The country was often seen as a place of nostalgia for a simpler time, as shown in Duke Senior’s forest court that echoes tales of Robin Hood. The merry court of the forest is an inversion of the court at the beginning of the play, far from the threats of violence and cruel treatment of Duke Frederick. Danger in the forest of As You Like It is never truly life-threatening but, when considering the role of the forest in other plays such as Titus Andronicus, the possibility of violence draws a long shadow over the plot.

'Alas, what danger will it be to us, Maids as we are, to travel forth so far!’ Act 1.3 When Rosalind and Celia decide to enter the forest, they must put on disguises as 'beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.’ (1.3) The threat of displaying beauty is underscored by the reputation forests had during Shakespeare’s time as spaces where vagrants lived outside society, presenting a danger of sexual violence for women who wandered there alone. For wealthy women, such as Rosalind and Celia, the threat would be even more pronounced as they would be visibly affluent in a place of extreme poverty, fuelling Celia’s decision to dress in 'poor and mean attire’. (1.3) The forest of Arden is a place of comedy but underlying the play is a sense of unspoken danger, drawing on the role of the forest as a place of tragedy and violence that it assumes in Shakespeare’s other plays.

As You Like It, 2009 © John Tramper 'I prithee, pretty youth, let me be better acquainted with thee.’ Act 4.1 Rosalind’s decision to disguise herself as a 'pretty youth’ named Ganymede, rather than mimicking Celia’s peasant dress, allows her a degree of control over her romantic future she would not otherwise have access to as a woman. By leaving the court she leaves behind the pressures of being a noblewoman and is able to express her desire for Orlando, albeit while dressed as a man. That Rosalind must cross-dress in order to express her desires is evidence that the forest can only allow so much freedom: the woman may take control, but only while others believe she is male. Rosalind engages with Orlando in a way that can be seen as homoerotic, creating both the sexual and gender confusion that permeates the forest. Her disguise frees her from womanhood but entraps her in masculinity, meaning she cannot marry Orlando unless she returns to presenting as female.

Gender never truly breaks down in the forest, showing how the pastoral space is still linked to societal values that render women subordinate, values that Rosalind plays into when declaring women 'apish, shallow, inconstant.’ (3.2) 'The duke hath put on a religious life And thrown into neglect the pompous court’ Act 5.4 In the final scene of the play Duke Senior vows a return to the court after witnessing the marriages between the lovers, signalling a return to civilisation, heterosexuality and normative gender presentation. Rosalind’s return to femininity and her marriage to Orlando show an end to the chaos of the forest, but the court they return to has changed drastically from the court at the beginning of the play. Duke Frederick’s conversion into a holy man renders the court back to its 'natural state’ where Duke Senior returns to his rightful position, mingling the worlds of the forest and the court. The exploration of gender and the forest space renders As You Like It one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies, using the move to Arden as an opportunity to explore the divides and rules of society. The question remains though – how safely can Rosalind navigate the dangerous space of the forest?

And how far can cross-dressing take a female character while she still lives in a patriarchal society? Further Reading William Shakespeare, As You Like It (Cambridge: University Press, 2009) Albert R. Cirillo, 'As You Like It: Pastoralism Gone Awry’, ELH, 38.1 (1971), pp. 19-39 Carol Thomas Neely, Distracted Subjects: Madness and Gender in S SparkNotes Readers' Notes for As You Like It: What is to Shakespeare 'The Forest of Arden' in his play 'As You Like It'? What is to Shakespeare 'The Forest of Arden' in his play 'As You Like It'? by Shehanaz , December 09, 2013 9 out of 10 people found this helpful ‘AS YOU LIKE IT’- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ************************************************************* AS YOU LIKE IT IS A SHAKESPEARE'S ROMANTIC COMEDY, BLENDING WITH LOVE-HEROISM-SENTIMENT-ADVENTURE-AND PURE FUN.

THE FOREST IS MERELY A GOLDEN WORLD, BUT ITS CONTENTMENT HAS DEALT OF THE BITTER LESSONS OF LIFE. (DR.S.SEN) PRONOUNCE THE WORD 'ARDEN'-PERHAPS A PUN BY PRONOUNCING IT A-DEN-- A FOLIAGE OF MATERIALISTIC WORLD. ****************************************************** “The Forest of Arden, according to the play reflects the different -state -of -mind of the various characters of the play itself”-Discuss. “There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Every story narrated or dramatized has an artistic structure which may be called its architectural design. The different elements of the story, technically known as the plot, are characters, incidents and the atmosphere born out of the union of these two. Characters unfolding themselves through incidents which often mould them,or incidents revealing characters through narration and dialogue, are so skillfully adapted to each other and vitally connected as ultimately to conceal the parts in the symmetrical beauty or realized harmony of the whole. Every interesting story arises out of a conflict, absence of which will make it dull and unexciting.

There are, generally speaking, two main movements required to achieve this artistic result- a movement of Complication and a movement of Resolution. Between these two movements the plot will develop through many ups and downs which follow a well-regulated course. Structurally the natural divisions of a drama are fivefold, roughly corresponding to its five acts in the Elizabethan play. “Truths that wake, Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour, Nor Man nor Boy, Nor all that is at enmity with joy, Can utterly abolish or destroy.” While Romance admits the comic spirit within a corner of the field, the area is strictly limited. Romance and the comic spirit cannot well live together on terms of equality. In Shakespearean comedy, the comic spirit has to minister to the purposes of Romance and not the other way about. The truth of this observation can be seen in how the characters of Benedick and Beatrice, though seen in a comic setting in the beginning, emerge finally as Romantic characters, with both of them acting as the Champions of hero who is subjected to such ill merited suffering. On a lower plane it is true of Dogberry and Verges also.

As Peter Quennell says: “Dogberry like Bottom was intended to raise a cultured laughter.” Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden is an imaginary setting in As you Like it and it is futile and unnecessary to try and find its actual counterpart in the world- whether in France or in England. What matters is that the Forest of Arden has a significant role in As You like It. “Pythagoras said, that this world, was like a stage Where many play their parts: the lookers on, the stage Philosophers are, saith he, whose part is to learn The manneres of all nations.” In such a place, in such an atmosphere, Love is the central light, the infallible intelligence, the chief source of life and happiness. And this love is identified primarily with a young woman. She is the Shakti of this universe; she is beauty, truth and rarity and inspires similar virtues (or values) in her lover.

“For, boy, however we do praise ourselves, Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn Than women’s are.’’ In Shakespeare’s mature comedy-it is worth remembering that in comedy Ben Jonson put him above the classics- he presents ‘a harmonious society in which each person’s individuality is fully developed and yet is in perfect tune with all others’. While keeping to the old principle that comedy portrays characters, he profoundly modified it by deepening and strengthening each separate character, developing the relations between different characters, until the characters became the plot. As You Like It has a systematically worked–out plot. Its principal plot is to illustrate the ultimate happy fate or the denouement of pair of lovers after passing through some struggles and difficulties. This is the story of the love between Orlando and Rosalind. Round about it there are three sub-plots, having the same theme of love between pairs. These sub-plots merge into the main plot in such a way as to leave no impression of their independent existence. The sub-plots are- the love between Oliver and Celia, the love between Silvius and Phebe, the love between Touchstone and Audrey.

All these have happy endings in marriage. The aim of the dramatist in constructing these subplots is to produce the impression that the atmosphere of the play is one of genuine, undiluted love, serenity, joy and peace. The governing idea of the dramatist in constructing the plots of Gloucester and Edmund as a parallel to the main plot of Lear and his daughters. “I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, A stage where every man must play a part, And mine a sad one,” Arden is not untouched by the world of reality and its sorrows, but it is a place where those who come to it discover certain abiding truths about life. The characters get a conviction that gay and the gentle can endure the rubs of fortune to find happiness in them and in others on this earth. The characters also realize certain truths. The masque of Hymen marks the end of this interlude in the greenwood, and announces the return to a court purged of envy and baseness. As in all comedy the characters realize the truth about themselves through trial and error, and the change is for the better. Thus Rosalind as Ganymede discovers she can play no more but must accept Orlando’s love.

By loving a shadow, the mere image of a charming youth, Phebe discovers that it is better love than to be loved and scorn one’s lover. If we consult the evidence of the play it will be abundantly clear that Love-at-first-sight is the main theme of the comedy, As You Like It. All the lovers in this play, courtiers as well as rustics, follow this kind of love. Rosalind and Orlando fall in love with each other the moment they see each other; and the rest of the lovers following the same course. Such a conception of love is romantic, and Shakespeare has employed unhesitatingly for no less than four pairs of lovers, two from the higher and two from the lower class of society, follow such a mode of romantic love. Whether one agrees or not with such a mode of love one cannot but observe that in this play this motive of love eventuates in the happiness of all the lovers.

In a Romantic Comedy, the main stress is on the story of these loves-a story, says Mark Hunter, “treated seriously, moving through a number of checks and trying complications to a prosperous ending.” It is, besides, “ a story not only of high life, but of the highest in each particular case possibly”, but allied to the main story, there are invariably other stories also, but-like silk threads, of diverse colours-all are cunningly woven into a single texture: “Through complexity of plot if secured a compensating variety, both variety of character-interest, and variety of delight afforded by the alternation of two or more Romantic themes, together with a greater or lesser admixture of pure Comedy, not Romantic.” That Shakespeare is an artist hardly needs asserting in the present day. It is true that his art was probably far less self conscious that that of Milton or of Tennyson, that it was probably more intuitive than aforethought. The distinction, however, is probably not so important as its seems. A great artist does not need rules or conscious analysis to tell him what is good and what is evil. Any analysis that may be necessary may be done sub-consciously. “Shallow. “Here comes fair Mistress Anne.

Would I be young for your sake, Mistress Anne. Anne. The dinner is on the table.”’ The presentation of love on the stage is fraught with grave dangers even when attempted by a great artist; for it has a natural tendency towards degenerating into the ridiculous. Lyric poetry remained the appropriate domain for love’s expression in creative. It was only post-Renaissance dramatists who made a bold experiment in introducing love as an absorbing theme in drama. In the Elizabethan age romantic love often became the main ingredient of novels and dramas. To Elizabethan people “to live be to love, and to love was to love romantically. That was for them a fact of experience.” It was left to Shakespeare and his great contemporaries to achieve a mystical alliance between comedy and romance and to elevate comedy from the region of the farcical and the ludicrous to the realm of the poetic and the romantic. A note of high seriousness often characterized a comedy of love, As You Like it. It is replete with different portrayals of love. “I have seen the day, with good biting falchion, I would have made them skip: I am old now.

And these same crosses spoil me.” Like Thomas Hardy’s Edgon Heath, Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden is not simply a background of the plot; nay it is itself a character, perhaps the most important character of the play. “It has its own soul, a vital breath- that possesses the greatest reformative and constructive power. It reforms the wicked, selfish and cruel Oliver; it softens the aching hearts of the weary pilgrims, who come to it; it brings about a reconciliation between the Dukes, and finally, it is the Forest Of Arden which unties the separate lovers-Orlando and Rosalind- infusing a spirit of love into other characters.” “If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear.” “The play treats of the gifts of Nature and the ways of Fortune. Orlando, given little is brought too much. Rosalind and Celia, born too much, are brought to little. The Duke, born to all things, is brought to nothing. The usurping Duke, born to nothing climbs too much, desires all, and at last, renounces all.

Oliver born too much, aims all little more, loses all, and at last, renounces all. Touchstone, the wordly-wise, marries a fool Audrey, born a clown, marries a courtier. Phebe, scorning a man falls in love with a woman. The play is a little picture of this world, as Hallam observes, but it is a picture in mellow and soothing colours of gaiety.” “I am much sorry, sir, You put me to forget a lady’s manners, By being so verbal.” The practical value of the songs in the play was to entertain the audience with music. The Elizabethans were great lovers of music and they always welcomed songs. While he conceded to the popular demand for songs he introduced into them some significance on the context in which they were sung. In As you Like It we have half a dozen songs primarily intended to heighten the psychological effect of the scene in which they are sung. For instance the song in the Forest scene beginning with “Blow, blow thou winter wind,” has the effect of intensifying the pathos of the situation.

The sense of ingratitude under which the banished Duke is acutely suffering is made more poetical and so endurable, by the beauty of the song and aptness of its sentiments. In the songs of country life which this play contains we find a different significane.These songs (“Under the greenwood tree”) heighten the sense of rural bliss and innocence by expressing through musical words and serenity and peace that pervades the countryside. Thus we may say that the songs in Shakespeare’s generally serve the purpose of intensifying the effect of the scenes and situations in which they are introduced. The world of Arden has not the rarefied atmosphere of an unearthly region; this forest is emphatically real and feelingly earthy. It is subject to the change of seasons; eternal spring does not reign here. The struggle for existence is as acute here as in the city. The shepherd and the shepherdess are not ideal and innocent persons of the golden age breathing the idyllic atmosphere of Arcadia. A heartless coquette like Phebe and an ‘ill-favoured’ Audrey easily capable of deserting her true love for becoming the snobbish wife of a courtier, are found to dwell within its extensive air.

Boas says: “The sentimentality of the orthodox pastoral is entirely absent, and in its place we have the ruddy vigour, the leaping pulse and play of the open-air life that ‘loves to live in the sun’. Never has the charm of outdoor existence found more matchless expression.” As You Like It owes its charm and beauty to the flavor love that pervades the plot. The drama maintains a number of love episodes, which as a matter of fact spring from the main fountain- love between Orlando and Rosalind, but there is another touch of love in the play, which distinguishes it from most of the Shakespearean comedies. It is the innocent yet sincere and penetrating love between the two cousins Rosalind and Celia. “What would you have, Your gentleness shall force, More than your force move us to gentleness.” It is to be noted that the first impression of Arden is not very attractive to any of those who escape to it. “Well, this is the forest of Arden,” says Rosalind in apparently unenthusiastic tones. Touchstone calls himself foolish for having come there. The Forest of Arden is no conventional Arcadia.

It is not a place where the laws of Nature are abrogated and roses are without thorns. Life’s roughness is very much in evidence in Arden. The herd abandons the wounded deer. Winter and rough weather, the season’s differences, the icy fangs and churlish chiding of the winter’s wind invade Arden as often as they invade this hemisphere of ours. Nor does Manna fall to it from heaven. One may come by a sufficient sustenance of flesh ,if one has the weapons and the impulse to make a breach in the conventionality of idyllic Nature by killing its own creatures, the deer, to whom the Forest is assigned a native dwelling place. Rosalind and Orlando will return to live their adult life in the society of men and in civilization, which will impose upon them their duties of extended social responsibilities. “Come, woo me, for now I am in a Holiday humour and like enough to consent.” It is easy to see how As You Like It conforms to the conventions of the pastoral tradition. We find, for example, a plentiful crop of rustic scenes and situations of shepherdess, and all the other associations of a pastoral life.

Even the principal figure of the comedy the heroine herself, takes to the life and manners of the shepherds in the major portion of the play. Rosalind buys the estate of a shepherd in the Forest of Arden and lives the life of simplicity and unsophisticated innocence. Besides, it is as a disguised shepherd youth that Rosalind appears in her best wit and intelligence. Her mock wooing of Orlando, her complications as a girl in the dress of a boy and, finally, her splendid resources of wit in reducing all these complications to an easy and happy ending- all these prove that Shakespeare exploited the pastoral convention in the service of comedy. The songs are a notable feature of As You Like It. The forest would be dead without them. They are all old and plain; no luscious madrigals or quaint eclogues but songs of the greenwood and the holly, of the chase and country love. The themes are all the better for being old-fashioned: they awake the echoes of Robin Hood, and their music and association help not a little to convey that open air feeling that pervades the play, and which mere convey that open air feeling that pervades the play and which mere description cannot always impart.

Here the sylvan predominates over pastoral; we are in Sherwood not in Arcadia, as J.C. Smith says. “He that brings this love to thee Little knows this love in me: And by him seal up thy mind; Whether that thy youth and kind Will the faithful offer take Of me and all that I can make; Or else by him my love deny, And then I’ll study how to die.” By a pastoral comedy we mean a play in which the characters belong to the rustic class, specially shepherds and shepherdesses. The situations of such plays are romantically simple and pure and innocent, and the story usually delineates the peaceful and enviable life of these figures that love and enjoy life in an ideal fashion. They have no cares and burdens. They always get what they wish, and they end in a happy atmosphere of joy and felicity. Such, in the main, are the elements of a pastoral story whether in fiction or in drama.

“Thus men may grow wiser every day; it is the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies.” Shakespeare builds up his ideal world and lets his idealists scorn the real one, but into their midst he introduces people who mock their ideals and others who mock them. One must not say that Shakespeare never judges but one judgment is always being modified by another. Opposite views may contradict one another but of course, they do not cancel out. Instead they add up to an all embracing view far larger and more satisfying than any one of them by itself. As You Like It belongs to the group of plays consisting of Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night which are splendid specimens of Shakespearean’s mastery of the comic and dramatic art. These plays are characteristic Elizabethan romantic comedies- plays which satisfied the curiously Elizabethan demand for drama catering to the romantic as well as the comic instinct of the audiences. Neither the extreme of idealism nor those of materialism, as they are variously represented, emerge as “the good life” in As You Like It. through the device of contrast an effective balanced view emerges.

“West of this place, down in the neighbor bottom; The rank osiers by the murmuring stream Left on your right hand brings you to the place. But at this hour the house doth keep itself; There’s none within.” We may, however, note one thing while discussing As You Like It as a pastoral comedy. The pastoral creation of the ancient writers usually verge on the improbable and almost fantastic side. This results in the impression of artificiality in an endeavour to escape from it, but in the consummate art of Shakespeare even the idealization which is inevitable in the application of the pastoral convention is touched with probability and realism with the result that his characters remain endearingly human. Their motives may be romantic but their passions and sentiments are human and worldly-wise. In other words, it may be said that in Shakespeare’s hands the pastoral convention is humanized. The union of Rosalind and Orlando in happy wedlock has been the objective aimed at from the beginning and this is now finally attained, but the crowning achievement of the heroine lies not only in her own happiness but also in winning happiness for others. All the different pairs of lovers have their heart’s desire fulfilled-it is As You Like It.

“We that are true lovers run into strange capers; But as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature In love mortal in folly.” The purpose of the Exposition is ‘to put the audience in possession of all information that is essential for the property understanding of the play.’ It prepares us for the aviation, but it is really independent of the plot proper. In As You Like It the preliminary information consists chiefly of : (a) the banishment of the elder Duke, the unexpected presence of his only daughter Rosalind at the usurper’s court, and (b) the will of Sir Rowland de Boys and the ill-treatment of Orlando at the hands of his elder brother Oliver. Thus the two main threads out of which the love story will be woven are suggested e even at the outset; the hero and the heroine have been introduced in the midst of circumstances which are strikingly similar in many respects. The Wrestling Match is the initial incident which starts the action: and the seed of this great love is shown here. Here is also the genesis of the main conflict between our hero and the heroine on one side and Oliver and the usurper ranged against them on the other.

“O my life, his malice’s against the lady Will suddenly break forth.” “Other and inferior writers would have worked out their descriptions with all pettiness and impertinence of detail” says Coleridge, regarding the pastoral atmosphere created by Shakespeare. In fact Shakespeare has not cared to describe at large these pictured of pastoral scenery: he has as the master artist adopted the unique method of subtle suggestion. By a few strokes of the painter’s brush he has succeeded in creating not only the appropriate pastoral back ground but also a vast and vivid woodland scene studded with some landmarks,e.g., he Duke’s cave, Rosalind’s cottage, the antique oak, and the crawling brook. So superb has been the success of this delineation that we seem to breathe ‘the very breath of the woods and the mountains’. Public theatres of the Elizabethan age had no painted scenes. The dramatist had thus to depend entirely on his own poetic art and his power of stimulating their imaginative capacity of his audience. There are two levels of awareness at work in the scene. The audience’s awareness is at one with Rosalind’s; Orlando’s awareness falls short. To this extent, the climactic scene is structurally simple.

But in, very simplicity it is magnificient.The compensation for the lack of complexity comes the wooing scene in As You Like It is different from similar scenes in Shakespearean comedies. There is in this play different level of awareness and ignorance which make the wing scene all the more interesting dramatically and thematically. The wooing scene, in fact, is the climax as far as the theme of ignorance and awareness is concerned. As Rosalind disguised as Ganymede questions and argues with Orlando who does not know Ganymede’s identity, there is much fun as well as serious comment implicit for audience. “For thou thyself hast been a libertine As sensual as the brutish sting itself; And all the embossed sores, and headed evils, That thou with license of free foot hast caught, Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world.” In the width of the discrepancy in the awareness of the lovers. The wooing scene deliberately exploits this gap in the awareness of the lovers. The wooing scene deliberately exploits this gap in the awareness. The exploitation is not thin. Neither the relation of the participants nor the situation changes at all during the action. At the beginning, Rosalind knows everything and Orlando nothing; it is the same at the end.

However, at the end of the scene. Rosalind’s conviction about Orlando’s love has received a final confirmation. There is a blending of the magic and the comic even in the sunny, joyous and bright comedy of As You Like it. Thus the play opens with a quarrel between the brothers-Oliver and Orlando. The former makes attempts to take the life of the latter. We also get distinctly tragic elements in the sorrow of the banished Duke, which he philosophies away; in the melancholy of Rosalind due to the banishment of her father, which is dispelled by the cheery optimism of Celia; in the pathetic fate of the three unfortunate sons of the old man, who are injured by the wrestler. There is also something like the tragic element in the disappointment of Silvius regarding Phebe. These tragic elements are harmoniously, delicately, and artistically blended with and merged into the comic elements. The court milieu at the beginning of AS You Like It then, is one in which disorder flourishes. Life in the Forest of Arden is contrasted with “that of painted pomp” with the perilous life in “the envious court”.

This is the “court versus country” theme which recurs in Shakespeare in other plays. The fidelity and conscience piousness of the old servant Adam are contrasted by Orlando with the general rule that obtains in this environment. And it is Adam himself who gives what is perhaps the most striking evidence of the disorder that is rampant. It may be well to point out that Shakespeare does not believe that court life must necessarily be corrupt and disordered. In fact he is concerned in As You Like It to point out by implication that escapism is no solution: at the end of the play, we have most of the exiles returning from the Forest of Arden, and we are clearly meant to understand that the court environment has been rid of its evil. Disorder has been set right. “Nay, I care not for their names; they owe me nothing. Will you sing?” In the true order of things a man’s graces and virtues should assist him in his life, but here a man’s virtues are a danger to him, exciting the envy of others. The true order of things is inverted.

Speaking to Orlando he says: “O, what a world is this, when what is comely Envenoms him that bears it!” The Forest has a great deal of influence on the people who stray into it. We see the shady dark green landscape in the background and breathe in imagination the fresh air of the forest. The hours are here measured by no clocks, no regulated recurrence of duty or toil; they flow on unnumbered in voluntary occupation or fanciful idleness, to which every one addicts himself according to his humour or disposition; and this unlimited freedom compensated all of them for the lost conveniences of life. One throws himself down solitary under a tree, and indulges in melancholy reflections on the changes of fortune; others make the woods resound with social and festive songs to the accompaniment of their horns. Selfishness, envy, and ambition have been left in the city behind them. The wit of touchstone is a dainty kind of absurdity worth comparison with the melancholy of Jaques.

And Orlando in the beauty and strength of early manhood, and Rosalind-“a gallant curtle axe upon her thigh, a broad spear in her hand, and the bright tender, loyal womanhood, within”-are figures which quicken and restore our spirits. But upon, no one does the air of Arden work as powerfully as upon the banished Duke. He extracts some useful lessons from his life of banishment in the forest. He draws a contrast between “painted pomp” of court life and the life of careless ease in the Forest of Arden. The life at court is full of envy, malice and ambition. But of, the forest life is sweeter and more “free from peril.” But even, when he shrinks from the cold winter wind, he feels it is better than the flattering courtiers. While the courtiers at court are only enemies in disguise, the cold wind is an open enemy and does not flatter him. The Duke also realizes the sweet uses of adversity. The forest life has many things to teach. Every object in Nature has a lesson of its own. He finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything.

“Thou art not for the fashion of these times. Where none will sweat but for promotion. And having that, do choke their service up Even with the having; it is not so with thee.” “The dramatist presents us with a pastoral comedy of the characters of which , instead of belonging to the ideal pastoral age, are true copies of what nature will produce under similar conditions” (Halliwell). The pastoral poet of convention clothed courtiers in the shepherds’ dress and put into mouths sentiments of an advances civilization. Shakespeare, on the other hand, has given us real shepherds-Corin and William and Audrey, “whose language is the language of the fields, whose hands saviour of the wood and sheep, and whose persons exhale the odour of the goat-pen or the dairy” as Stanley Wood says, but the characters of Rosalind, Orlando and Duke are certainly ideal ones-although like every ideal, they are based on the actual; they represent experiences idealized. “Well, I’ll end the song. Sirs, cover the while; the duke will drink under this tree.

He hath been all this day to look you.” ****************************************************** “My fortunes were more able to relieve her; But I am shepherd to another man, And do not shear the fleeces that I graze:” **************************************** AS YOU LIKE IT As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the First Folio, 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility. As You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia and Touchstone the court jester, to find safety and eventually love in the Forest of Arden. Historically, critical response has varied, with some critics finding the work of lesser quality than other Shakespearean works and some finding the play a work of great merit. The play features one of Shakespeare's most famous and oft-quoted speeches, "All the world's a stage", and is the origin of the phrase "too much of a good thing".

The play remains a favourite among audiences and has been adapted for radio, film, and musical theatre. SYNOPSIS The play is set in a duchy in France, but most of the action takes place in a location called the Forest of Arden, which may be intended for the Ardennes in France, but is sometimes identified with Arden, Warwickshire, near Shakespeare's home town. Frederick has usurped the Duchy and exiled his older brother, Duke Senior. The Duke's daughter Rosalind has been permitted to remain at court because she is the closest friend and cousin of Frederick's only child, Celia. Orlando, a young gentleman of the kingdom who has fallen in love at first sight with Rosalind, is forced to flee his home after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver. Frederick becomes angry and banishes Rosalind from court. Celia and Rosalind decide to flee together accompanied by the jester Touchstone, with Rosalind disguised as a young man and Celia disguised as a poor lady.

Rosalind, now disguised as Ganymede ("Jove's own page"), and Celia, now disguised as Aliena (Latin for "stranger"), arrive in the Arcadian Forest of Arden, where the exiled Duke now lives with some supporters, including "the melancholy Jaques," a malcontent figure, who is introduced to us weeping over the slaughter of a deer. "Ganymede" and "Aliena" do not immediately encounter the Duke and his companions, as they meet up with Corin, an impoverished tenant, and offer to buy his master's rude cottage. Orlando and his servant Adam (a role possibly played by Shakespeare himself, though this story is said to be apocryphal), meanwhile, find the Duke and his men and are soon living with them and posting simplistic love poems for Rosalind on the trees. Rosalind, also in love with Orlando, meets him as Ganymede and pretends to counsel him to cure him of being in love. Ganymede says "he" will take Rosalind's place and "he" and Orlando can act out their relationship.

The shepherdess Phebe, with whom Silvius is in love, has fallen in love with Ganymede (actually Rosalind), though "Ganymede" continually shows that "he" is not interested in Phebe. Touchstone, meanwhile, has fallen in love with the dull-witted shepherdess Audrey, and tries to woo her, but eventually is forced to be married first. William, another shepherd, attempts to marry Audrey as well, but is stopped by Touchstone, who threatens to kill him "a hundred and fifty ways". Finally, Silvius, Phebe, Ganymede, and Orlando are brought together in an argument with each other over who will get whom. Ganymede says he will solve the problem, having Orlando promise to marry Rosalind, and Phebe promise to marry Silvius if she cannot marry Ganymede. Orlando sees Oliver in the forest and rescues him from a lioness, causing Oliver to repent for mistreating Orlando. Oliver meets Aliena (Celia's false identity) and falls in love with her, and they agree to marry.

Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver and Celia, Silvius and Phebe, and Touchstone and Audrey all are married in the final scene, after which they discover that Frederick has also repented his faults, deciding to restore his legitimate brother to the dukedom and adopt a religious life. Jaques, ever melancholy, declines their invitation to return to the court preferring to stay in the forest and to adopt a religious life as well. Rosalind speaks an epilogue to the audience, commending the play to both men and women in the audience. Sir Oliver Martext, a curate Other characters: Lords and ladies in Duke Frederick's court Lords in Duke Senior's forest court Pages and musicians Hymen, a character appearing in a play-within-the-play; God of marriage, as appearing in a masque FILM As You Like It was Laurence Olivier's first Shakespeare film. Olivier, however, served only in an acting capacity (performing the role of Orlando), rather than producing or directing the film. Made in England and released in 1936, As You Like It also starred director Paul Czinner's wife Elizabeth Bergner, who played Rosalind with a thick German accent.

Although it is much less "Hollywoody" than the versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet made at about the same time, and although its cast was made up entirely of Shakespearean actors, it was not considered a success by either Olivier or the critics. Helen Mirren starred as Rosalind in the 1978 BBC videotaped version of As You Like It, directed by Basil Coleman. In 1992, Christine Edzard made another film adaptation of the play. It features James Fox, Cyril Cusack, Andrew Tiernan, Griff Rhys Jones, and Ewen Bremner. The action is transposed to a modern and bleak urban world. A film version of As You Like It, set in 19th-century Japan, was released in 2006, directed by Kenneth Branagh. It stars Bryce Dallas Howard, David Oyelowo, Romola Garai, Alfred Molina, Kevin Kline, and Brian Blessed. Although it was actually made for cinemas, it was released to theatres only in Europe, and had its U.S. premiere on HBO in 2007.

And although it was not a made-for-television film, Kevin Kline won a Screen Actors Guild award for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries, for his performance as Jaques. As You Like It | ﻿Southern Shakespeare Festival As You Like It Home » About Us » Our History » As You Like It As You Like It The play is set in a duchy in France, but most of the action takes place in a location called the Forest of Arden, which may be intended for the Ardennes, a forested region covering an area located in southeast Belgium, western Luxembourg and northeastern France, but sometimes is identified with Arden, Warwickshire, near Shakespeare’s home town, which was the ancestral origin of his mother’s family, who incidentally were called Arden. Frederick has usurped the Duchy and exiled his older brother, Duke Senior. The Duke’s daughter, Rosalind, has been permitted to remain at court because she is the closest friend and cousin of Frederick’s only child, Celia. Orlando, a young gentleman of the kingdom who at first sight has fallen in love with Rosalind, is forced to flee his home after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver.

Frederick becomes angry and banishes Rosalind from court. Celia and Rosalind decide to flee together accompanied by the jester, Touchstone, with Rosalind disguised as a young man and Celia disguised as a poor lady. Rosalind, now disguised as Ganymede (“Jove’s own page”), and Celia, now disguised as Aliena (Latin for “stranger”), arrive in the Arcadian Forest of Arden, where the exiled Duke now lives with some supporters, including “the melancholy Jaques,” a malcontent figure, who is introduced to us weeping over the slaughter of a deer. “Ganymede” and “Aliena” do not immediately encounter the Duke and his companions, as they meet up with Corin, an impoverished tenant, and offer to buy his master’s crude cottage. Orlando and his servant Adam, meanwhile, find the Duke and his men and are soon living with them and posting simplistic love poems for Rosalind on the trees.

(The role of Adam may have been played by Shakespeare, though this story is said to be apocryphal.) Rosalind, also in love with Orlando, meets him as Ganymede and pretends to counsel him to cure him of being in love. Ganymede says “he” will take Rosalind’s place and “he” and Orlando can act out their relationship. The shepherdess, Phebe, with whom Silvius is in love, has fallen in love with Ganymede (Rosalind in disguise), though “Ganymede” continually shows that “he” is not interested in Phebe. Touchstone, meanwhile, has fallen in love with the dull-witted shepherdess, Audrey, and tries to woo her, but eventually is forced to be married first. William, another shepherd, attempts to marry Audrey as well, but is stopped by Touchstone, who threatens to kill him “a hundred and fifty ways”. Finally, Silvius, Phebe, Ganymede, and Orlando are brought together in an argument with each other over who will get whom.

Ganymede says he will solve the problem, having Orlando promise to marry Rosalind, and Phebe promise to marry Silvius if she cannot marry Ganymede. Orlando sees Oliver in the forest and rescues him from a lioness, causing Oliver to repent for mistreating Orlando. Oliver meets Aliena (Celia’s false identity) and falls in love with her, and they agree to marry. Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver and Celia, Silvius and Phebe, and Touchstone and Audrey all are married in the final scene, after which they discover that Frederick also has repented his faults, deciding to restore his legitimate brother to the dukedom and adopt a religious life. Jaques, ever melancholic, declines their invitation to return to the court preferring to stay in the forest and to adopt a religious life as well. Rosalind speaks an epilogue to the audience, commending the play to both men and women in the audience.

Symbolism in William Shakespeare's As You Like It | Self-Publishing at GRIN Symbolism in William Shakespeare's As You Like It Seminar Paper, 2000, 16 Pages eBook for only US$ 8.99 Download immediately. Price incl. VAT Format: PDF, ePUB and MOBI – for PC, Kindle, tablet, mobile Add to cart II Scenery and setting in As You Like It i) The description of the court and its Predominating mood ii) The Forest of Arden and its message III Concrete symbols in the play and their meaning i) Symbols describing and opposing court and forest ii) Symbols of love V Bibliography I Introduction This is a paper on symbolism in Shakespeare’s As You Like It. I will especially emphasise the symbolic meaning or rather ‘allusion’ of The Forest Of Arden, and intend to go much further than to maintain that ‘ The Forest Of Arden is an unreal place because there are and were no palm trees in England’. This is of course out of question and totally insignificant to the eventual aim of this paper.

At first, I will examine the different representations of court and forest in the play, which is supposed to support the assertion that the courtiers have to leave the wicked court in order to find again what has gone lost there: love and human warmth. Thus, I want to show that the forest has to be seen as a feeling, a spirit of love and self-knowledge. Moreover, I am going to put forward concrete symbols in the play and their meaning in the context and with regard to the understanding of The Forest Of Arden. There is a wide range of different symbols, natural and worldly symbols, and of course symbols that are connected with love, which all contribute to the final message of the play, that is, that there is no clear message to it, which I hope I will be able to explain in this paper. On the whole, the question that has to be answered looks simple but is to my mind very intricate and distinct since it is far too complex in its deeper meaning: ‘What is The Forest Of Arden ?’ I want to impart the idea that The Forest is not meant as a symbol of something, but rather as a feeling, an attitude towards life.

Thus, it is neither symbolic of love nor forgiveness nor renewal, but rather impersonates those qualities. It is not symbol but representative and epitome of, which is much more intensive. However difficult an answer to the question above seems to be, answering it is unexpectedly easy, and this for one simple reason: everyone has to decide for him- or herself. I can only give suggestions, but what Arden means to oneself differs from person to person. Therefore, The Forest Of Arden is As You Like It. II Scenery and setting in As You Like It i) The description of the court and its predominating mood In order to find a satisfactory answer to the question ‘What is The Forest Of Arden?’, it is to my mind necessary to find out what it is not. It is certainly not the court, on the contrary, it is everything but the court. But hold on, is this really true? Is the court really the opposite of the forest?

I suppose that it is not as easy as that, especially as, in the end, nobody stays in the forest and the whole lot of let me call them ‘excursionists’ return to the court, except of course those in need of morality, that is Duke Frederik, and Jaques whose position in life is not established and who succumbs to his melancholy and depressions. I think that the relationship between court and forest is not of contrary but rather of alternate and complementary character. The forest can render what slowly but surly gets lost at court after some time: harmony and contentment. Instead, there are now discontent, envy, mistrust and malevolence. These bad qualities that gradually come to light tend to destroy the natural order ‘ordained by God’, the old order of succession and position is trampled upon, which is demonstrated by the banishment of the righteous duke and the suppression of the younger brother. However, there is one relic left at court that reminds us of a Golden Age of honour and generosity that has long since gone: the self-sacrificing loyalty and love of Adam the servant.

Furthermore, there are Rosalind and Celia, whose self-sacrificing devotion for her cousin is also a last gleam of hope that prevents us from assuming that there is no place for good-will and tolerance at the court. In this state of pent-up tension the curtain to As You Like It opens. We are at the court, or at least near the court, and right from the beginning there is an awkward feeling and unpleasant presentiment about it. Banished dukes, suppressed brothers, abused servants and hated nieces – this cold, degrading atmosphere slowly becomes unbearable, for the characters as well as for the audience. I may say that one is almost glad when Orlando with faithful Adam, and Rosalind, Celia and the fool set out to leave this coldness behind in order to find warmth and a “better world than this” (Le Beau, I, 2, 273) in the Forest of Arden.

“Now go we in content To liberty and not to banishment.” (Celia, I, 3, 135-36)1 ii) The Forest of Arden and its message Now the scenery gradually turns away from the court and the forest gains the upper hand in the play. This contrast between the two main settings and their different moods contributes considerably to the serene effect of the whole play. Rosalind’s exclamation “Well, this is the forest of Arden.” (II, 4,13) is like a sigh of relief for the audience, even though it does not radiate much euphoria yet. It is strange how Shakespeare succeeds in arousing these feelings of aversion to the court and security of the forest, especially as he gives only little concrete description of the forest and the court themselves. Only by means of the qualities of the characters, the differences between the good forest and the wicked court are established. The bad and deluded banish and expel the good and sincere from the court into the forest.

What stays behind with the audience is the picture of the court as an evil place, a prison with dark and confining rooms, cold buildings and heart- and ruthless people, whereas the forest, not at first sight but step by step, reveals itself as a place full of merriment and ease, a haven and place of refuge from the worries of the world, where everyone can regain a positive and unselfish outlook on life. Duke Senior makes this clear when he states that the forest is “…like a toad, ugly and venomous, [but] Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;” (II, 1, 13-14) As far as the representation of court and forest is concerned, it is vitally important to see that the understanding of and attitude towards the two settings is established by the different features of the characters. Thus, on the pretext of informing the audience about the events at court and developing some kind of plot, Shakespeare biases us from the beginning on against the court and those who stay there. The only motive of this is to define good and evil and evoke the impression that something has gone lost at court which has to be brought back again.

This something is in my opinion love and sympathy for the fellow being as well as general tolerance. The fact that the ‘plot’ developed in Act I can only be understood as frantic and, moreover, a farce, is to my mind highlighted when the women and Orlando enter the forest, for from then on any ingenious action ceases to exist. It becomes rather arbitrary and artificial, and Shakespeare makes no secret of the fact that the superficial action that takes place in the forest is not meant to convey any deeper meaning but rather to amuse the audience and stress the reviving effect the forest can have on worn-out and discontent souls. As P. Swinden suitably puts it: ‘The plot is very thin. It has no work to do because there is no intrigue […]’[1] A lot of people are now thronging in the forest, and all they do is meeting each other in turn, indulging in some complicated conversation about their different problems and state of minds and, not least, singing songs and being merry.

This lack of a proper plot after Act I and the total ignorance as to a sensible explanation concerning the sudden purification of the two villains contribute to my assertion that the forest is meant to be understood as a feeling, an introspection into one’s own self. Reasonable plot is now only secondary. However, for the moment, it is my intention to expose Arden as a certain kind of spirit, a spirit that is carried and lived by those that are ‘infected’ with it. To my mind, it has to be understood as a flame that is given from candle to candle and spreads from heart to heart. This image can be supported by Jaques’ demand to “… give me leave To speak my mind, and I will through and through Cleanse the foul body of th’infected world, If they will patiently receive my medicine.” (II, 7, 58-61) The forest is a statement, an invitation to see life in a new light and to question and redefine one’s moral standards. Another important aspect that has to be borne in mind is the fact that the courtiers do not only enter The Forest Of Arden but also a realm of pastoral existence.

Silvius, the poor shepherd who adores and worships his shepherdess Phebe with the utmost intensity, seems to be the very epitome or representative of this pastoral life. His character is like a homage to a ‘Golden Age’ of pastoral conventions, he impersonates all noble and gentle features of character that have gone lost with the courtly people and which they, unconsciously, hope to get back in the pastoral surrounding. Thus, the flight into The Forest Of Arden is mainly a journey back to the ‘Golden Days’ when people lived in the country and there was no envy and cruelty amongst them. But it soon becomes clear that the courtiers do not fit into the pastoral conventions, which is for instance shown when Touchstone scoffs at William the admittedly stereotype country-lad and tries to outwit Corin for no obvious reason. The courtiers are apparently superior to the simple country folk, at least in matters of language and general knowledge, but the question is: why do they have to show them their superiority? Does that not make them the inferior ones? “You foolish shepherd, wherefore do you follow her…?

[…] …’tis such fools as you That make the world full of ill-favour’d children…” (III, 5, 49-53) Here it is Rosalind who criticises Silvius for his blind devotion to Phebe. She poses as judge over other people’s feelings, which seems to be something very typical of the courtiers, mocks Silvius and tries to show him how stupid his behaviour is, but she is unable to see things from Silvius’ point of view: he is desperately in love with Phebe. It is Silvius himself who gives an answer to Rosalind’s accusations, not to her but to Corin, when he maintains that “If thou remember’st not the slightest folly That ever love did make thee run into, Thou hast not lov’d…” (II, 4, 31-33) [...] 1 Unless otherwise stated, all page references given parenthetically within this paper refer to W. Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Oxford School, ed. R.Gill (CUP: Cambridge, 1997) [1] P.

Swinden, An Introduction to Shakespearian Comedies (The Macmillan Press Ltd.: Landon & Basingstoke, 1973), p.114.

Question: Which Shakespeare play takes place in the Forest of Arden?
Answer: As You Like It